Feature: Two Four Doors

Words by Matt Willis

Before we left for SEMA, we hosted a quick shoot with two awesome 4-door builds. Keith Ta, Eddy Tran and their late 90s Honda Civics have been around the streets of San Diego for a while. We’ve been following their projects for a couple years now and we’re excited to see the direction they’ve taken.

If you’re into the Honda scene, you know that there are so many “overnight-er” builds that come out of the wood-work, year after year. They’re toured around show after show, featured in magazines and on the web, and eventually phased out with a bigger and better project. We see those types of cars all the time. And we love them — they are the flagship cars that lead the trends and interest in the scene and are often recognized as pioneers of their class. But…with the resources, connections, and time…it’s easy to produce a car of that sort of perfection. It’s not hate…it’s just the truth.

For the average enthusiast, things don’t come so easy. Builds can take time and can change course over that time. The money and effort involved is…in my opinion…so much more appreciated when it takes some time to produce. You see the changes, and you see the car come together little by little. You see the owner’s attachment to the car in this way.

Keith’s ’98 LX 4-door has always been one of favorite Hondas. The simplified looks, black-and-white color scheme and the fact that the car retains the less-common ’96-’98 attributes makes it unique in its own way. It continues to be his daily driver, but plans to adapt it for autocross and road racing events – including a yet to be determined engine swap. Here are Keith’s specs:

Eddy shares the same 4-door LX chassis as Keith, with the exception of the ’99-’00 body conversion. His car has traveled around southern California events with Team Showpow. It has also been featured on our site a few times in the past.

He tore up the desert with us at El Mirage…

…showed at Extreme Autofest here in San Diego…

…and this is from Tim’s last shoot with him…

It’s no doubt we’ve seen the car change over the last few years. Eddy has definitely put a lot of effort into the build and he is still very dedicated to it…

His current tail lights are not something you see everyday, but we think they add a unique flair. They’re also LED lit, which gives them a neat look without having to have red lenses within the housing. The carbon trunk got a little scraped up in a recent accident…